Laura was one of eleven children and the second of four daughters born to Lorenzo Dow Benton and Catherine Mary Stuntz Benton. She married three times, the first at age fifteen to Harvey Edwards on Christmas Day 1877 in Hancock County, Iowa. The union was blessed with three children: Alice M., Robert E., and Harriet T.
A widowed Laura Benton Edwards and her children were recorded in the 1885 Minnesota State census living with widower farmer, Amherst Stewart in Mansfield, Minnesota. She married Amherst Stewart, thirty-one years her senior, on 4 August 1886 in Forest City, Winnebago County, Iowa. That union was blessed with one son, Arba Amherst.
The family moved to Los Angeles County, California, where Amherst registered to vote 29 July 1896. On 3 November 1898 her elder daughter, Alice Mary wed Swedish immigrant, motorman, Gustaf Peterson, thirteen years her senior. Sadly, by the 1900 US census, her younger daughter, Hattie had died.
On Christmas Day 1902 the Stewarts attended Laura's parents' Golden Wedding Anniversary party in the Woodman Hall of the Green Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Her daughter, Alice, divorced Gustof Peterson, remarried to another Swedish immigrant, Andrew Smith, in 1906 and moved to Coconino County, Arizona, where she remained the rest of her life. On 11 October 1906 her elder son, Robert, also married. Sadly, this marriage did not last either. In 1908 her younger son, Arba Amherst Steward married.
After Amherst Stewart's death, Laura Benton Edwards Stewart was recorded in the 1910 census living with her ex-son-in-law, Gustof Peterson, who is listed as widowed, not divorced. Laura remarried at age 51 to her ex-son-in-law, Gustaf Peterson, 49, at 3:59 PM on 2 December 1914 in Orange County, California. Justice of the Peace, James Fullerton officiated and her brother, George L. Benton of 272 Park St., Pasadena, and sister-in-law, Mrs. G. G. Benton (Ida Elizabeth Murphy Benton) witnessed. The Petersons lived together at 1720 E. 21st Street in Los Angeles. The marriage certificate says he was divorced and it was his second marriage and Laura was widowed and it was her third marriage. In 1920 Laura and Gustof lived in Long Beach and Gustof had changed jobs. He was a shipyard electrician. He died later that year. Laura's elder son, Robert Eugene, a teamster for a transfer company lived with them.